nextgenerationmarvel | Alignment (Brooke)

Alexander had caught Brooke on an odd moment of relaxation. Neither was she attempting to chase down a mutant turtle nor was she trying to antagonize someone. At that moment, in fact, Brooke was in her room at the institute, settled on the easy chair that the Institute had provided as part of the furnishing of the place, idly flipping through a book of poetry. She glanced at her phone when the text came in and for a moment, her heart stopped for a moment.

We need to talk? That...could be bad.

For a brief moment, Brooke wanted to ignore the text. If it was bad news, she didn't want to hear it.

But Alexander knew her, and he'd be well aware that she had received and read the text.

I'm available.

"That's one of the things I love about you, Brooke Wyngarde. You take life in stride and never let anything stop you. You adjust to a situation and then take control of it." Alexander said, appearing before her just seconds after she'd lowered her phone.

He knelt before her on her easy chair, making it appear as though the chair was throne. And upon that throne sat the queen.

He looked at the book of poetry, trying to see if recognized the author. Whether or not he did, he would lay his head on her lap for a moment.

"I missed you." he said.

Okay...this was not what Brooke had anticipated. She set the book - of poems down on the table next to her. If Alexander looked again, he'd see that it was a collection of love poems from various poets. Gently, almost hesitantly, Brooke ran her gentle, perfectly manicured fingers through Alexander's dark hair.

A god, she realized, was kneeling at her feet. Her pulse quickened the slightest bit at that realization.

"Hi," she said softly, still caressing his hair. It was an odd, intimate thing for a woman as generally cold as Brooke to do. "Is...everything okay?"

"I prefer Pablo Neruda, personally. His poems are always so...visceral." he said gently. He let her run her hand through his hair. His mother used to the same thing when he was young.

Those were the times in his life when he felt safest.

She asked him if everything was okay and he looked up at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"My mother died six years ago today. I neglected her. I took her for granted and assumed she'd always be there. I was a terrible son." Alexander said quietly.

"I promised myself that I'd be a better son to my father and a better brother to my sister. I don't really have any friends. Marcelo just got married and I don't think he likes me much anyway." Alexander told her.

"Roxanne has Joe. Joe and I are very different people. I'm fun, amusing and interesting. Joe likes punching out criminals. I still don't understand."

He paused.

"I promised myself that I'd be a better...boyfriend to you. That I wouldn't take you, or your life or your goals for granted. I want the world, Brooke, and everything in it. But first and foremost, I want /you./" Alexander said.

"Most couples with ambition work against each other or they work apart from each other. I want us to work together. When people ask who runs this town, I want them to think of Alexander Aaron and Brooke Wyngarde."

He smiled up at her.

"This god doesn't need a dark priestess anymore. I came here to be a king and I need a queen. Are you interested?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm not very familiar with his work. The name, yes, of course, but his work...well, we never covered it in high school." And the English department at Empire State University was dreadful.

Especially with their online classes.

Sadness darkened Brooke's dark brown eyes as her brow knitted in concern. "I'm so sorry," she said. "Here we've been together for five months, and I didn't even think to ask..." Seriously, what sort of girlfriend was she? Did he do anything to grieve? Anything special? People tended to have special rituals over this sort of thing. A glass of wine in remembrance, a special service at church...

Not that Alexander went to church. Those few who still worshipped the Greek pantheon prayed to him, in part, after all.

Of course, while she'd been lost in thought, Alexander had moved on in his conversation.

And Brooke blinked. And blanched. And froze.

"Are..." she blinked a few more times. "Hold on." She could hear a bit of a commotion outside.

Of course. Alexander's teleporting into her room must have set off alarms. He wouldn't have been on the list of people who were allowed to teleport in - Nightcrawler, Angel, Ariel, and others were, but Brooke hadn't even considered...

Rachel. Alexander's in my room. Everything's fine. Sorry. Surprise visit.

She'd explain the rest to Rachel later.

She shifted her attention back to the handsome god kneeling in front of her.

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking me?"

Alexander smiled as he watched Brooke process what he said. He loved watching her think. He imagined what it would be like to hear her thoughts. He wouldn't even if he could, though. This was better.

"What do you think I'm asking you, Brooke?"

She was the slightest bit out of her element here, and it was a feeling Brooke wasn't used to. But that was the charm of being with Alexander. He tended to throw what was generally a carefully planned, scheduled life for a loop. At least, that's how Brooke saw things.

"I'm not...I wouldn't presume to think that you're asking me what I think - what I hope - you might be asking." Though Brooke had led a somewhat charmed, privileged life, there were some things that even she sometimes felt were beyond her grasp. "I wouldn't be so lucky."

Alexander's expression changed as Brooke spoke. He'd considered asking her a million times. He'd planned to ask her a million times. He didn't need much sleep. When he wasn't designing, he was thinking of her...and how to ask her the question that would change both of their lives.

"Brooke, I would love to ask you that question and hear your answer. First, however, I need to ask a different question." he said.

He paused and took a deep breath. Why did this one woman, of all the women he'd ever known, make him so nervous? He wanted to please her, to make her happy.

In a way, she reminded him of his mother. He'd always wanted to please her and make her proud of him as well. And he'd failed her.

"Brooke, I am a demi-god. Someday, I'll get the full range of my power back. That means immortality. That means agelessness." Alexander told her.

"Could you live with me for the rest of our lives? That divine spark would pass to any children we have. It puts them at the mercy of my grandfather, Zeus, lord of Olympus and all its gods." he said.

"Is that something you're prepared to live with?"

Pause.

"Let's back up a moment. Do you even /want/ children?"

Edited 2014-12-04 22:58 (UTC)

I would love to ask you that question and hear your answer.

Brooke's pulse rate absolutely spiked at that, but on the outside, she remained implicitly calm and cool. As Alexander spoke, she thought of all of the myths and stories that she'd heard about the Greek gods - many of them from Roxie herself as they were schoolgirls, huddled under blankets, watching tv together while eating sashimi and sipping on sparkling apple cider as though it were champagne. Did the gods who loved mortal women - did those women gain immortality?

Brooke couldn't remember.

Her pulse was racing too fast for her to be able to concentrate on those thoughts.

Do you even want children?

That question snapped Brooke back to the conversation at hand. "Not right away," she said. "There's so much I still want to accomplish before children enter the picture." She wasn't ready for children yet. On some level, Brooke was still damaged goods when it came to being ready for that. Regan Wyngarde had had a very specific way of raising Brooke, and given Rachel's diagnosis of Brooke being a sociopath some time ago...

"But one day? Yes. Of course. I want that. A husband. Children. Waitstaff. Nannies. Pets. Nannies for the pets. You know, the whole family." Or at least how a New York socialite defined family.

Alexander's smile brightened as Brooke listed off what she wanted. Nannies for pets? He was going to have to do a LOT of work to make that possible. It sounded like she needed an army for their family. He wondered how many children she wanted, but they could save that for a later discussion.

"Children aren't foremost on my mind, either. I need to build an empire for our family. I can't be Lord of Olympus but I can certainly carve out a kingdom here on Earth." he said.

"When I think of children and a home, my thoughts turn to you. I've never thought about that before. I always figured I'd hop from fling to fling and never settle down. Then you came along and my old ways just...seem childish." he said.

"Let me be clear. I want to marry you. I will marry you, if you'll have me. But I need to know what goals we share. Designing clothing is great and I love it, but I need more. I need to prove to my grandfather that I have my own power. I need followers. But before and after all of that all of that, I need you."

"I will share my power with you and we will make you a goddess." Alexander said.

Brooke was silent for the longest moment. She was staring into Alexander's eyes, lost in them and lost in thought. Visions danced through her mind - the best penthouse New York City had to offer, summer homes in the Hamptons, California, France. A little lodge in Aspen. Fat, happy little babies, tended to be nannies. Children who would go into politics or law or become great scientists or superheroes. Alexander and Brooke Aaron, Greco-American royalty.

She shivered with pleasure.

"You only need to ask me," she said, her voice hoarse. "The answer wont disappoint you."

Alexander reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, gold ring with a large diamond in the center. He looked a little nervous as he took Brooke's hand and slid it onto her finger.

"Every since you told me about your dream wedding, I've been thinking about this. I had it resized. I will get you a bigger ring later but...this one belonged to my grandmother on my mother's side. She gave it to her. And Mom gave it to me. She wanted me to give it to the woman I marry, who will then pass it down to her daughter. I'm really just a pit stop in this ring's travels." Alexander jested.

"Brooke Aurelia Wyngarde...will you marry me someday soon?" he asked.

And there it was. The Question.

A shockwave of love and joy shot out, Brooke at it's epicenter. It was a good chance that anyone who was on campus would have felt it. Brooke couldn't control it, and she knew that Rachel was going to want to have words on the subject later.

But it didn't matter right now. All that mattered was...this. Alexander. Her.

"Yes. Yes. Nothing would make me happier." She looked at the ring, at the diamond, and she shook her head. She didn't need a bigger ring. She had always been one for tradition and heirlooms. The ring, it was perfect in all of it's sentiment and familial value.

She bent over and kissed Alexander. "You don't know how happy you've just made me." Unless he did. The whole school knew at that moment.

Alexander felt the shockwave and his own mood brightened in response. Just before now, he could feel the minor fears, hesitancy and trepidations around the school. But Brooke's feelings eclipsed it all, stilling the fear to silence.

The sensation was different and alluring.

But all of that vanished when she said yes.

He returned the kiss and pulled her close.

"If it's anywhere near as happy as you've made me...I think I can guess." he said.

"We'll set the date at your leisure." he whispered.

"Would it be wrong to say that I didn't want a long engagement?" Brooke asked softly. "I'm not saying let's get married tomorrow, because I also don't want people to think this is some sort of shotgun wedding -" Though people would certainly talk, that much was certain. Stephanie and Marcelo had been together for two years before tying the knot. Brooke and Alexander had only been together five months.

But it felt right. That was the important thing that mattered.

"But I don't want something that's drawn out."

"Then we won't wait long. I'm looking forward to calling you 'Mrs. Aaron' in the near future. I don't want to wait long." Alexander said.

"Although...making you wait has its own benefits." he said, giving her a devilish smile.

"I suppose that I should meet your parents soon. You'll have to meet my father. And get reacquainted with Roxanne." he said.

Brooke blinked at the prospect of Alexander meeting her parents. Regan Wyngarde would probably try to see if she could take Alexander for herself.

Manuel...well. Brooke still didn't know him well enough to figure out how he'd react, but given how he had all but abandoned her again after suddenly coming back into her life...well.

Sometimes I think that the illusory dad that my mother had created was better. Even if he had been in jail for tax fraud.

"Wait," she said. "Your father's the God of War." She had known this, but meeting Ares had never been something she thought she'd do anytime soon.

Instead, here it was.

"That's..." intense. "Oh god. Literally."

Alexander wondered if she was suddenly rethinking her answer. Explaining the bit about his father was tough.

"Yes, Father is the God of War. It seems overwhelming. Believe me, I know. But he's not a bad man. He's just like any other father out there. Only...his power comes from a part of human nature that most people don't like to contemplate." Alexander said.

His father drew his power from war. Alexander, unlike most people, did not consider war a wholly bad thing. It was unfortunate when innocents were caught in the crossfire, but the idea of world peace terrified him beyond words.

"We don't have to do it right away. I'll talk to him and explain everything. In fact...I know someone who can help." Alexander said.

He pulled out his phone and sent Roxanne a text.

Little Sister...we need to talk. I have joyous news.

"Don't worry, Brooke. Everything will be just fine."

Edited 2014-12-06 20:41 (UTC)

Good god.

Roxie, her former best friend, was going to be her sister-in-law.

There had been a time when the two had dreamed of such a thing, of being sisters.

Now it was going to be a reality.

Funny. We're so different now. How will it be, I wonder.

Had Roxie matured any? Had Brooke loosened up any? Funny, the curveballs that life throws your way.

But she smiled down at Alexander. They were adults. They could make it work. Brooke believed that when you married someone, you were also marrying into their family, and Brooke and Roxie had been like family once upon a time.

She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. "I don't doubt that for a moment. With you by my side, nothing worries me."

"Excellent." he said, smiling up at her.

"I'm going to give Roxanne the news. Is there a chance we can meet at your place later?" he asked.

"I'd like to celebrate our engagement but I get the feeling that the rest of your friends wouldn't like the feelings we put out." he grinned.

God, she wished she could keep her emotions in check. Brooke's eyes wandered over to her bed for a moment, but she thought better for it.

If anything could have Rachel turn to the small spark of the Phoenix that she possessed, it would be Brooke doing that here.

Where everyone would be forced to feel it.

She turned scarlet. "I'll speak to Rachel, but yes, I'll be there tonight." She'd call Sharona to prepare her apartment.

She'd also have some extra things on stand-by in case Alexander was planning on surprising her with Roxie.

"Then I will see you tonight. Maybe I'll bring some Pablo Neruda to read to you." he said, stepping back.

And with that, he vanished...

...to reappear in the home he shared with Roxie and Joe.

Joe wasn't here. His bag was missing. Probably another SHIELD mission.

"Roxanne? Are you home? I have news!" Alexander called out.

Roxie had been out on the roof of the penthouse she shared with her boyfriend and her brother, carefully training with a sword that her father had passed down to her when she heard Alexander call out for her.

She set the sword down next to one of the many potted plants that littered the terrace and made her way inside, wipinig her throat and shoulders off with a towel.

"Hey," she said, placing a kiss on her brother's cheek before pouring herself water from an icy jug filled with sliced limes and pitted cherries. She took a sip, and then eyed her brother suspiciously. "Wait. Is everything okay? You're...is that a smile?"

Her eyes widened.

"What did you do to Joe?"

"Hello, Little Sister." Alexander said, his grin close to splitting his face in two. He was over the moon about the day's developments. All he needed now was for Roxanne to get in line with them.

When she asked about Joe, he laughed.

"I haven't done anything to your lover, Roxanne. I considered sending him to an island to fend for himself for a month or two to see if he's worthy of you...but I didn't. See? I'm growing as a person." he said.

"But I have some good news." he said.

He paused, letting it sink in.

"Brooke and I are getting married. You two are going to be sisters. What I need from you, aside from renewing your friendship with her...is to tell Father that you and Joe are getting married. Or that you're pregnant. Either one works.

Then Father will be a great mood and he'll behave himself when I ask him to have dinner with Brooke and I. I mean, he'll be inclined to maim Joe instead of probe Brooke. So, when do you want to set this up?"

Alexander had been this close to getting a slightly-not-so-playful punch in regards to the jab about her boyfriend, but then he threw the curveball.

Suffice to say, Roxie wasn't ready for it.

She stared at Alexander for a long, silent moment.

"You're getting what to who?" Yeah, she needed a minute.

"Brooke and I are getting married. I proposed about ten minutes ago. She said yes." Alexander said.

"I know that you two haven't been close in a long time but...I think it's time to put that aside and welcome her to our family." he said.

"Besides...I love her." he said, giving his sister a shrug. He'd never said that about any girl he'd ever dated. He'd never even introduced any of them to his family.

"This is important to me, Roxanne. I need you with me on this. Please."

"No, I heard you." Roxie slid onto a stool and crossed on yoga-pant-clad leg over the other. "I'm just surprised. This is so sudden." Only five months? Sure, that was longer than most of Roxie's relationships - Vince and Joe notwithstanding - but still.

For Brooke, especially, who tended to take her time with things that didn't concern a shoe sale, this was practically lightspeed.

Roxie gulped down her water. "Congratulations," she said then, sliding off the stool and hugging her older brother. "I'm happy for you. I am." That he said he'd loved her...well.

Never in Roxie's memory had Alexander ever said that about anyone. Hell, never had Alexander ever seen a woman more than a few times. His track record was worse than Roxie's, and Roxie's past was the stuff of gossip rag legend.

"I'll back you up on this," she agreed. "Of course I will. I'll talk to Daddy. But I'm not faking a pregnancy for you, neither am I throwing my boyfriend under Daddy's chariot."

Roxie was probably the only one of Ares' kids who could get away with calling hm "Daddy."

"Besides. I'm sure he'll adore Brooke. Until she inevitably insults him."

"I didn't think you'd have to fake it. You and Joe have been together for some time now. And you two are very...in love." Alexander teased. He'd accidentally heard a little bit of it a few times, forcing him to leave the apartment and leave them to it.

"Seriously, he'd better propose to you. Eventually, Father will want to meet him and he'll want to know his intentions. I want to know them as well. He needs to treat you right, Roxanne. This...SHIELD group demands a lot of his time. I hope that isn't at your expense." Alexander said.

He returned Roxanne's hug, though. It made him feel better to know she'd at least prepare Father.

"Father likes women who don't wilt in his presence. Mom was like that. And didn't Carol punch him in the face more than once? I'm sure Brooke's wit won't bother him overmuch." Alexander said.

Roxie's navy blue eyes shone with merriment. "He's..." she put her hands up and wiggled her fingers, searching for the right word. "I didn't think I'd ever...I mean. How many girls are lucky enough to have their childhood crush come back into their lives?" Of course, there had been a time when, if he had come back, it was likely that their friendship would have fractured. After all, no one really wanted to date someone who spent their nights dancing and snorting coke and doing not much of anything else.

She'd come a long way since then.

"I know you don't get it - or him. But he's everything I didn't even realize I needed to complete me." And that was the beautiful thing about the relationship. They were there for each other, they completed each other, but they had their own lives and their own space. Neither was dependent on the other, and the trust was implicit. There are things that Roxie had done while she was with Vincent that she couldn't ever imagine doing while with Joe. Oh, she'd loved Vincent, of course she had. But the party girl hadn't completely matured yet, back then.

She was a different woman now.

One who had her lips pressed together at that moment to hold in what would have been an embarrassingly girlish giggle. Roxie turned back to the kitchen. There were a plate of cold cuts in the fridge, a sack of bagels on the counter, and a jar of honey dijon mayonnaise in the pantry.

She was hungry.

"Mom and Daddy share...an interesting relationship." Roxie was, after all, the product of a spell that Amora had cast over the Avengers one night. Though Carol and Ares had been teammates, and they'd shared a mild attraction, they had never really been an item. At least, unlike with Marcus, the Avengers had been there for Carol every step of the way. "But I think her punching him kind of turns him on."

She passed one bagel sandwich to Alexander on a plate, with a side of apple chips. "Look. Brooke and I. We had a complicated friendship. But we'll be fine now. We're adults. I respect who she is, I'm sure she'll respect who I am. The issues that caused our friendship to fracture are long over." She took a bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. "As long as she treats Daddy with respect, but without dampening her own fire, she should be fine."

"Then we're in good shape. I have to prepare her for Father, anyway. He's larger-than-life and that intimidates a lot of people. He'll probably want to have dinner with all four of us soon." Alexander said.

"And as long as Joe treats you well, I'll keep the peace. But...he has helped you. I can see that. You were different when I came home because of what you went through. Now...you're the Roxanne I remember. But you've grown up a lot.

I respect that. I respect you." Alexander said.

"All four of us?" Did that mean Alexander, Roxie, Brooke, and Joe? At the same time? Gods, but that would be an event.

At least Ares would take better to Joe than he would to Vincent.

...she hoped. After all, Joe was a warrior, Ares was the god of war...

"He's the love of my life, Alex."

"Then I wish you only happiness, Little Sister." Alexander smiled.

"I'm meeting Brooke tonight and staying over. Don't wait up."

Alignment (Brooke)

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Roxie

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